Memo: Commissioner Lamy visits Egypt to strengthen trade ties

On 23 March 2001 the EU Commissioner for Trade, Pascal Lamy, began an official 2-day visit to Egypt. The Commissioner addressed bilateral, regional and multilateral issues with representatives from the Egyptian Government and organisations of the Arab countries. There were also meetings with the Egyptian business and academic community as well as NGOs. High on the agenda were questions related to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the launch of a new round of trade negotiations later in 2001 as well as bilateral trade issues. The EU is Egypt's major trading partner accounting for 36Commission's of its imports and exports. This trading relationship has grown by 50Commission's over the last five years. Since 1977 EU-Egypt bilateral trading relations have been governed by a Co-operation Agreement. In 1995 the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the so-called 'Barcelona Process' was launched with the prospect of bilateral Association Agreements. In January 2001 EU and Egyptian negotiators initialled the text of their Association Agreement (AA) which is due to be signed in the coming months.